INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT - Switch on Your Brain with the 5-Step Learning Process (R) and Metacog system (TM)

Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf

Working in the field of education for over 25 years, I love to teach people how to think and learn, and see them reach their full potential. Based on my academic research and clinical work, I developed a learning system based on how the brain works: The Switch on your Brain 5-Step Learning process (R). In South Africa I used in this system in many schools across the economic and cultural spectrum, with both students and teachers. Watching their faces light up as their academic performance increased (up to 35-75% improvement in many cases), many of them realizing that they could achieve anything they correctly put their minds to, was truly inspiring!

Three years ago I was presented with an opportunity to introduce this learning system in a Charter school group in Dallas, Texas, with similar results to South Africa. Once again, regardless of nationality, culture or any other differences, I saw children and teachers improve, both academically and emotionally, when they realized that they could succeed in life. Our circumstances, even though they constrain us, do not determine our destiny. (You can read more information at Dallas Charter School results, and more about the research and application under Science Article downloads)

But what exactly is this learning system? It is a Metacog™-based program, mirroring the way the brain builds memory, thereby stimulating deep thinking and learning. It simplifies the learning process, helping a person become an effective learner and increasing their intelligence.

A Metacog™ is essentially a way of writing things down on paper that is more compatible with the way your brain actually thinks, as opposed to writing in the normal linear fashion. The Metacog™ patterns look more like trees with words on lines, which stimulates the two sides of the brain to work together more efficiently, which in turn stimulates long-term brain development. The Metacogs™ essentially switch on your brain! I have a book and DVD set that teaches you exactly how to follow the Switch on your Brain 5-Step Learning process (R). We are so excited about the results that we have been introducing the concept into more schools and educational institutions, and we are in the process of creating the online Switch on Your Brain® learning program.

As a scientist, I understand the importance of reaching younger generations, teaching them how to think so they can succeed in every area of their life, since the patterns for adulthood are laid down in childhood. Because of this I firmly believe (and the research backs this up) in not only teaching adults how to reign in unruly toxic thoughts that are messing up their minds and bodies, but in also getting children to think properly, as thinking and emotions are all intertwined in the learning process and need to be dealt with as early as possible. Indeed, we need to get our children thinking again, considering the fact that American thinking patterns and therefore creativity alone are in decline (Newsweek July 19, 2010). The implications of such a decline are severe, and the evidence is already in front of us. There is an urgent need to improve Intellectual Development.